Afterlife: A Guided Tour of Heaven and Its Wonders - Swedenborg ...

The Story of Heaven and Hell
When Glen reached England, he learned that the
book had been translated into English and made plans to
introduce it in America. A shipment of books was sent
to Bell’s Book Store in Philadelphia, where on June 5,
1784, Glen gave the first public lecture promoting Swe -
den borg’s testimony. Among those who attended the
lecture was Francis Bailey, a friend and neighbor of
Benjamin Franklin. Bailey was a printer by trade, and he
became the first person to publish a book by Swedenborg
in the United States. Another man at Glen’s lecture was
John Young, a lawyer destined to become a prominent
judge in western Pennsylvania. When Young left
Philadel phia, he took with him a supply of books. He
befriended an enterprising fellow by the name of John
Chapman and was able to provide him with copies of
Heaven and Hell.
Chapman (who became known as Johnny Appleseed)
was a nurseryman who distributed chapters of Heaven and
Hell to settlers in their cabins as he walked the mid western
frontier. By giving a few pages at a time, Johnny reached
people who might not read a whole volume, and this was
a way of giving them a glimpse of what he called “Good
news, right fresh from heaven.” Individuals who were
receptive to the good news were often moved to share it
with others, and some collaborated in doing so. In 1849 an
organization was established with a purpose expressed in
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